Prologue Part One

Chaerin tipped her head back a touch, her cinnamon irises surveying the scene playing out before her. It was chaos. And not the kind she revelled in.

 

The mundanes relished in throwing parties without good reason, just simply for the sake of showing off their extensive wealth and power. That was something that never seemed to change no matter what the year was.

 

The neon lights danced across the room, casting colours in every direction. Alcohol of different kinds were being served, with some of the guests already showing signs of intoxication. If anything, that would only aid to help her complete her work.

 

Upon the mental reminder, she pursed her lips and suppressed a sigh.

 

“Now, now Chaerin-ah. Put that awfully ghastly smile of yours to some good use, hm?” A slender woman slithered over to her, her hips swayed as she wandered over to her causing those nearby to marvel at her beauty. “You’ll most certainly need it for tonight’s exciting event.”

 

“Is that supposed to be a request or are you still delusional thinking you can order me around?” The grey haired woman scoffed lightly, if her response had bothered the other in the slightest it didn’t show.

 

“You can think of it however you like.” With that, she dipped her head lower until her blood red stained lips were merely a few inches away from her ear. “If I wanted you to heed my words then you would just be another mindless drone that can be easily replaced.”

 

The younger narrowed her eyes but otherwise did not budge. She would not allow this demon to make her feel uncomfortable. Creator or not. Remaining silent, she continued to glance around the room as if uninterrupted. She had bigger things to worry about.

 

Like sweeping the head clean off the neck of her newest target for this evening for example.

 

Kim Joonho could be described as a vile piece of who gave the displeasure of bestowing his presence to poor unfortunate souls as if he was a member of a mythical royal family.

 

He was one of those idiots who was absolutely obsessed with money and power until it consumed his every need and desire. It’s funny how much it can corrupt people, Chaerin’s seen in time and time again how much of an influence it could have especially on the scumbags who savoured the sight of his victims begging and pleading for him to let them go.

 

But of course, he was just a sadistic with no intentions of letting his victims go.

 

Though, he seemed to be slacking as of late in his standards. The bastard was becoming too comfortable for someone who had a small-time job by thinking he was some kind of untouchable hotshot. And to some extent, he gave off the impression of being intimidating and frightening. No one dared to cross him in fear of the repercussions they would be faced with.

 

At that, she couldn’t help the amused smile to slid across her face. Perhaps things may have continued like that for him, that is if he hadn’t gone and pissed off her client by participating in the black market by trading items such as poison from a vampire’s fangs, werewolf fur and mermaid tears to list a few for ridiculously high prices.

 

Like clockwork, his eyes happened to meet hers for a split second. His gaze travelled up and down her body in an appraising manner. Although Chaerin maintained the curl on her lips, she wanted nothing more than to dig a scalpel on his face to remove his beady eyes riddled with unadulterated filth. He motioned for a bodyguard standing near him, not breaking eye contact with her as he conversed for a few seconds before he jerked his head at her. Completely oblivious to how he was practically facilitating his own death sentence.

 

“I’m sure you’ll have fun with this one, dear Chaerin-ah.” With that, the ravenette blended into the crowd.

 

The sliver haired woman didn’t have to wait long before she found herself being escorted into a set of hallways leading to a secluded room by a brawny man dressed to the nines. He shot a sideways glance at her, his face impassive as if conditioned to these kind of circumstances yet there was a glint in his eyes that resembled sympathy. That was an uncommon emotion to come across among henchmen.

 

For a brief moment, she reconsidered letting him go unharmed. But a fleeting flash of sympathy wasn’t enough for her to be certain that he wouldn’t be a problem. She couldn’t afford to leave loose ends in a business like this, it was just a prime example of sloppy work.

 

Less than a millisecond had passed before she slammed her side into the man on her left, the impact leaving a considerable dent in the wall. He stumbled feeling disorientated, the guard tried to collect his bearings but she didn’t give him a second to try to remember his own name as she reached a hand forward to claw around his neck and squeezed. No matter how many attempt he tried to evade her, it was all in vain.

 

“P-Ple-ea—“

 

She could feel his pulse growing dimmer, his lips on the verge on turning purple as she took away every scrap of oxygen he so greatly needed. Chaerin could see the life draining out of him. She gritted her teeth before she shoved his head back to hit the wall with a dull thud, knocking him out. She surveyed the hall, locating a storage room to keep him in. In a flash, she picked him up in a fluid motion before pushing him none-too-gently inside the closet. He would be lucky to survive that with a concussion at best.

 

But that was definitely not the case for that son of a Joonho.

 

The grey haired woman patted herself down, removing any creases before she continued her trek to the room across the hall. She made sure to knock and opened once she heard a voice from the inside to see him gazing out the window, his hands interlocked casually behind his back.

 

“Trouble on the way getting here?” He inquired, his tone breezy.

 

Chaerin stepped deeper into the room, taking on a nonchalant tone. “I bribed your bodyguard to leave us for a while, I didn’t think he could be so easily bought myself.”

 

He turned his head around, his eyes took in her attire once more which lingered longer than she would have liked. “I can most certainly see why.”

 

She tucked a stray strand of hair that escaped from her bun behind her ear coyly, meetings his eyes almost suggestively. “Is that so?”

 

Joonho sauntered over towards the table with a bottle of whiskey, pouring himself a glass. “I do wish that the pleasantries could have lasted a bit longer.” She did not flinch at this, merely raising an eyebrow in response.

 

“I’ve had word that someone would arrive at this event to kill me, so I prepared something. Call it a test if you will.” He flourished his hand, draining his drink in one shot.

 

She knew what he was trying to do, despite the immediate warning her mind was telling her. He was looking at her, gauging her reaction to see whether she would crack under the pressure.

“Oh? That’s dreadful, why would anyone want to kill you?” She tilted her head, playing the naïve card. “It’s not like you’re doing anything you’re not supposed to be, right?”

 

The black haired male did not utter a word, he only moved to signal which seemed to draw back the curtains separating the other side of the room. It wasn’t until she looked closer that she realised what was lurking there.

 

“What are they?” She furrowed her eyebrows, averting her gaze back towards Joonho. Chaerin had a pretty good idea what they were, however.

 

He clasped his hands behind his back once more. “At the present moment, they’re just useless humans. However, the next hour or so of their lives will determine what they turn into.”

 

“You’re experimenting on them?” She folded her arms over her chest, feeling her anger starting to boil within the pit of her stomach yet her face remained emotionless.

 

He quirked a crooked smile that was nothing short of evil. “They’re the litter of society that no one wanted. I’m doing everyone a favour by creating these monsters so we can control them.” Then he shrugged with that same demented smile twisted on his lips. “Plus, they’d sell for a bomb each.”

 

Chaerin turned her attention back to the humans on the other side, fully aware of his eyes glued to her reaction. “So, these experiments, how are you going to change them?”

 

Joonho walked a few steps closer; she could tell by the look on his face that something wasn’t right. She dodged out of the way just as he slashed through the air with a knife he had concealed, he grinned manically at her.

 

“Those reaction times aren’t normal for a human.” He murmured, the crazed look only seemed to grow even more.

 

The sliver haired woman let out a deep exhale, no longer having to keep up with the charade any longer. “You didn’t answer my question, dip.”

 

It seemed however that it was all a distraction as he motioned again, from the corner of her eye she could make out other figures crowding around the bodies on the floor with syringes.

 

“I’m sure you already have your answer. Now it looks like you’re gonna have to make a decision, kill me—that is, if you can.” He smirked then jerked his head towards the other side of the room. “Or, you can try to save those lives, though I have to warn you with that quantity of poison in their veins I’d doubt they’d last long anyway before medical assistance got to them.”

 

Chaerin narrowed her eyes, moving to strike the bastard once and for all when the sound of tortured cries broke into the air simultaneously. She tried to shake herself, it was futile trying to save them if they would die anyway. She reminded herself that she had a job to finish.

 

In a second she was standing right in front of him, punching a hole where his heart was and pulled it out with a satisfying rip as his blood spat at her. Joonho merely stared at her with that eating grin plastered across his face until slumped down to the ground motionless, dropping the neglected knife to the ground. She didn’t waste any time in squeezing the life out of the pumping organ until it was reduced to nothing but dust in her clenched fist.

 

She flashed across to fully assess the damage, they were all still whimpering loudly for the pain to stop as they writhed on the floor. They were just humans who were caught in the crossfire. That bastard was right on one hand; they wouldn’t survive if they waited for a medical team. She cursed to herself as she kneed down beside one, lifting her wrist to as she tore it open and held it to his mouth.

 

He resisted at first, not giving up the fight until a drop of blood fell inside and the spell stopped as he drank as much as she allowed. She ignored the whinge as she moved away to tend to the others until they were all somewhat stable. One positive thing about vampire blood was its healing properties, though she was sure that they would need further treatment to battle the poison still in their system but at least they wouldn’t die.

 

Chaerin grabbed her phone from her clutch purse and pressed speed dial, after the first dial tone she had an answer.

 

“You’re a crazy for waking me up at this godforsaken hour—“

 

“Listen to me, I don’t have much time. I need to cash in on that favour you owe me.” She glanced at the bodies who were now relaxed and falling into a deep slumber.

 

She couldn’t wait for the privilege herself to plunge into a dreamless state after this night.